I Will Become the Wind

CHAPTER 13 | Those Who Live With Monsters

The team's new rooms were more spacious than what they had at the edge of the village. They stayed in a round tower made of stone. It almost felt like a castle. It was understood that Tsunade would be handling most of the negotiations from then on, with Shizune by her side.

She even suggested that Team 7 could go home if they wanted to. Apparently she didn't want to run the risk of Naruto trying to explain himself anymore.

But Naruto wanted to stay. It was the team's first mission after the banquet—which he wouldn't even bother counting, if it hadn't been what led them to this point. Besides, he wanted to see the alliance work out.

"Freeloading extras should stay out of the way," Kakashi told them lazily the moment they split up at the guest rooms. "I don't mind if we stay, but don't expect this to be a vacation. We'll regroup in a couple of hours and run through some drills at the training hall so we can re-familiarize ourselves as a team. And don't go wandering off on your own. Just because we're in the city center, that doesn't mean it's safe."

Everyone was able to have their own room here, but their team was grouped together in a decidedly less fancy set of rooms than where Tsunade and Shizune were staying. Naruto didn't care. He threw his bag down on the floor and ran eagerly over to the window to look out. They were high enough in the tower that he could see all the way to the cliffside staircase where they came in.

Naruto used his break to take a nap and scarf down a meal bar. Then he and Sakura walked down to the training hall.

"Do you think we'll be able to track down Sasuke after this?" Sakura asked as they did warm-up stretches. "Or even Akatsuki. Once we have Kiri on our side, I mean."

"I dunno. I just hope Baa-chan can pull it off," Naruto said. "It's not like she has the best patience in the world, either. I doubt they'd ask her to bring me here and then let her hide us off in a corner somewhere."

"We'll get the chance. We just have to earn their trust." Sakura stood up and raised her arms above her head, stretching her hands out toward the ceiling as far as they would go. Then she lowered her arms and looked over at him. "It's true what they said, isn't it?"

"What?" Naruto was doing a back bend, and he looked at Sakura upside-down.

"You have the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox sealed inside of you. That's what all this is about."

Naruto jerked, lost his balance and fell backward with a startled grunt.

Sakura walked over to stare down at him. "And you said Akatsuki is after the bijuu, including the ones sealed in people. That explains a lot."

"I forgot you didn't know," Naruto muttered. "I would've told you before, but I was too caught up trying to explain about Orochimaru and the time travel. Then me and Ero-sennin left and—"

"It's okay. I kind of had a feeling something was going on with you. We're on the same team. I could have asked you before now." Sakura held out a hand to pull Naruto to his feet. "But how did the Kiri people find out?"

"I don't know. But Yagura knew it, and I'm guessing that's because Akatsuki knows it. So they probably found it out because of him. Especially since they saw him come after me."

"So this means there really is a reason for all the different villages to stand against Akatsuki. We'll find a way to get them on our side."

"That means the scheming should be kept to a minimum." The sliding door to the training room opened and Kakashi was standing there.

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said, dropping her hands down by her side. "We're not scheming anything. Right, Naruto?"

"Yeah," Naruto said, though he had to search his mind just to be sure. "We're hoping to go look for Sasuke after this. Can't we do that if we do a good job here?"